I don't tend to put many pictures on the 500 pixels site (500px.com). Mainly because the few pictures I have put up there didn't poll very well. I don't think the 500px community are that into pictures of old gates.

But a picture I posted last week featuring some Ikea Milk Chocolate bars and sexy pair of YSL Tribute 105 heels has obtained a 500px Pulse above 90 points and therefore made it into the category of "Popular". This is my first ever picture to get a Pulse above about 40 and the way the 500px Pulse works is that as the Pulse goes higher then it takes more views and votes to keep it climbing—i.e., the Pulse resistance increases. Once you get over a Pulse of 90 the Pulse resistance increases fairly significantly.

What was this magical image that made it for me on 500px? Here it is.

This is the direct link to the picture over at 500px, but I am not sure if you can go to it without having an account there. Note that when you go there the Pulse might have fallen. See why in the following notes.

At right is the proof I obtained a pulse over 90 and made it into the ranks of "Popular".

I actually peaked with a pulse of 90.3, but the way the 500px site works the pulse starts to decay if more 500px folk don't keep liking the picture daily. So, somewhat sadly, my pulse is now on its way down. But this happens to everyone.

Notice that this image was taken in very low light. Even though there are three lights in use here, including a hand-held LED source, the exposure was 2 seconds. This is partially because I wanted to use a very crisp f11 stop, and also I did not want to go above 400 ISO.

Obviously I was using a tripod with the exposure fired by the timer. Even the amazing sensor-shift camera shake technology that Pentax has in the K-3 is not that good.

The way the Pulse is calculated on 500px is a closely guarded secret, however it is some kind of blend of the number of views and the number of likes that a picture gets within a time frame. Hence, 15 likes within a day has more pulse value than 15 likes within a week. Ditto for views. Hence, as I got most of my likes and views within about a two day span I managed to achieve a high pulse.

Also, I understand that as the picture ages and moves down the display collections and becomes harder to find the pulse algorithm changes. Likes and views get more pulse value for these pictures. This is so older images that people take the time to dig down and find get a more significant boost in their pulse if someone views them or likes them.

All very complex.

But for me, now, I am very happy to have made it to Popular for the first time ever on 500px.